Watch: Moment Sainsbury's thief climbs through store roof to raid shelves

This is the moment a thief climbed through the ceiling of a supermarket so he could steal scratchcards.

Staff at Sainsbury’s Local, in Waverley Street, Radford, called 999 after seeing a pair of legs dangling from a hole in the store ceiling at 6.10am this morning (21 February).

CCTV shows the intruder climb down into the store before stealing approximately £200 worth of National Lottery scratchcards. He also placed crisps, washing detergents and food products into a bag before fleeing the store via a fire exit.

Response officers arrived within six minutes of the 999 and found a man matching the intruder’s description in nearby Forest Road.

The 50-year-old was arrested on suspicion of burglary and taken into custody.

Inspector Liz Gaskin, of the City Central neighbourhood policing team, said:

“This was fantastic work by the Response officers who ensured a suspect was swiftly in handcuffs.

“The store was closed at the time of the incident and so did not impact on members of the public. However it was an alarming incident for the staff and I’d like to thank them for alerting us to the burglary.

“No one should arrive for a shift to discover a burglar inside their place of work and I hope they are reassured by the arrest.

“As shown today, we will always offer a robust response when community stores are targeted like this and their shelves ransacked.”